I had a fabulous day at church today!
Nothing out of the ordinary happened today, but there was a definate feeling of 'renewal' in the air :) The members seemed to laugh more, be more sociable (even the old cranky lady), and basically everyone was of 'good cheer'.
I particularly love Fast and Testimony Sacrament Meeting...I know, I know, its obviously the first of the month so therefore I should have expected it, but it came as a total surprise to me when we arrived at church, that it was Testimony Day :D And...I'd even remembered to fast, so Im not sure why I didnt make the connection in my head! LOL!
We heard many inspiring testimonies that certainly uplifted Husband and myself :)
In Husband's Sunday School lesson, I learned that in the Book of Mormon, the Lord is referenced on EVERY page with the exception of only 4 double-sided pages...how AWESOME is THAT?! AND...on some pages our Lord is refered to (something like) 21 times!!! Im really excited about Sunday School this year because its all about the Book of Mormon. Last year we studied the New Testament (and I found quite a lot of that un-interesting...this doesnt make me a bad person, I think I just need more to entertain me as I have a very short attention span!) :) so Im happy to move on to something new :)
Then, in Relief Society - which I personally dread (I find it to *almost always* only revolves around children and having babies etc which doesnt apply to us) we had THE most wonderful lesson. We were able to watch a Church DVD on the new women's book: Daughters in My Kingdom - The History and Work of Relief Society. It turns out (and I didnt know this previously) that our church provided a copy of this book for EVERY woman in Relief Society for free - again, how awesome is that?!! In the DVD they likened it to a present that the recievers would be amazed at the contents, if only we would just open it and read it :)
I, myself, have had this book for several weeks, and although I keep reminding myself that I should read it, I havent really gotten around to it...I even keep it next to my chair in the lounge room so that I see it several times a day, but I just keep thinking 'I'll do that in an hour or so, Im busy right now', or 'That's such a pretty book but I dont have time today' So now Im making a new commitment to read a chapter every day. It is beautifully illustrated and I understand that the stories contained are very insightful and uplifting so Im definately going to make the effort to open my 'present' and appreciate the contents :)
Another thing I've been meaning to do, is to actually open, read, and apply lessons learned from many church books that I've ordered from Deseret Bookstore but have neglected for many months or even years now. I keep buying them thinking that if I read them I'll manage to grow and become a better person and be who the Lord would want me to be, but in the end, I buy them, admire the cover, and then put them in the bookcase thinking 'someday I'll have time to read that'. So, once I've read Daughters in My Kingdom, Im also going to commit to reading one chapter per day of each and every Church based book I own until I've read them all :)
This is a big undertaking for me, as I dont really read all that much. I like reading. I do! But I find that by the time I've come home from work (usually around 7pm), fed the babies,had a shower, cooked dinner (if Husband isnt home), had family prayer and scripture reading, had personal prayer and scripture reading, tidied up, hung up the washing (we can only wash at night-time when the alternator is on), etc. etc., I find that its all I can do to read one chapter of a novel before my eyes - which are BURNING by this stage - close of their own accord. So I definately think it will be a challenge to fit in this 'extra' reading when Im awake and my eyeballs are co-operating! :) But its a challenge Im looking forward to :)
OK, I think I've waffled on quite enough about my day today...but I definately had a wonderful day and Im excited for the possibilities this New Year brings!! :D
Nothing out of the ordinary happened today, but there was a definate feeling of 'renewal' in the air :) The members seemed to laugh more, be more sociable (even the old cranky lady), and basically everyone was of 'good cheer'.
I particularly love Fast and Testimony Sacrament Meeting...I know, I know, its obviously the first of the month so therefore I should have expected it, but it came as a total surprise to me when we arrived at church, that it was Testimony Day :D And...I'd even remembered to fast, so Im not sure why I didnt make the connection in my head! LOL!
We heard many inspiring testimonies that certainly uplifted Husband and myself :)
In Husband's Sunday School lesson, I learned that in the Book of Mormon, the Lord is referenced on EVERY page with the exception of only 4 double-sided pages...how AWESOME is THAT?! AND...on some pages our Lord is refered to (something like) 21 times!!! Im really excited about Sunday School this year because its all about the Book of Mormon. Last year we studied the New Testament (and I found quite a lot of that un-interesting...this doesnt make me a bad person, I think I just need more to entertain me as I have a very short attention span!) :) so Im happy to move on to something new :)
Then, in Relief Society - which I personally dread (I find it to *almost always* only revolves around children and having babies etc which doesnt apply to us) we had THE most wonderful lesson. We were able to watch a Church DVD on the new women's book: Daughters in My Kingdom - The History and Work of Relief Society. It turns out (and I didnt know this previously) that our church provided a copy of this book for EVERY woman in Relief Society for free - again, how awesome is that?!! In the DVD they likened it to a present that the recievers would be amazed at the contents, if only we would just open it and read it :)
I, myself, have had this book for several weeks, and although I keep reminding myself that I should read it, I havent really gotten around to it...I even keep it next to my chair in the lounge room so that I see it several times a day, but I just keep thinking 'I'll do that in an hour or so, Im busy right now', or 'That's such a pretty book but I dont have time today' So now Im making a new commitment to read a chapter every day. It is beautifully illustrated and I understand that the stories contained are very insightful and uplifting so Im definately going to make the effort to open my 'present' and appreciate the contents :)
Another thing I've been meaning to do, is to actually open, read, and apply lessons learned from many church books that I've ordered from Deseret Bookstore but have neglected for many months or even years now. I keep buying them thinking that if I read them I'll manage to grow and become a better person and be who the Lord would want me to be, but in the end, I buy them, admire the cover, and then put them in the bookcase thinking 'someday I'll have time to read that'. So, once I've read Daughters in My Kingdom, Im also going to commit to reading one chapter per day of each and every Church based book I own until I've read them all :)
This is a big undertaking for me, as I dont really read all that much. I like reading. I do! But I find that by the time I've come home from work (usually around 7pm), fed the babies,had a shower, cooked dinner (if Husband isnt home), had family prayer and scripture reading, had personal prayer and scripture reading, tidied up, hung up the washing (we can only wash at night-time when the alternator is on), etc. etc., I find that its all I can do to read one chapter of a novel before my eyes - which are BURNING by this stage - close of their own accord. So I definately think it will be a challenge to fit in this 'extra' reading when Im awake and my eyeballs are co-operating! :) But its a challenge Im looking forward to :)
OK, I think I've waffled on quite enough about my day today...but I definately had a wonderful day and Im excited for the possibilities this New Year brings!! :D
Well, I really enjoyed your 'waffling' Bec, thank you. Best waffling I have read all day! :) I'm very glad you had such a good day :)
ReplyDelete(I waffled quite a bit myself today - bit of a funny/somewhat embarrassing story.. I thought my teaching time seemed to be going slowly, then finally had a class member tell me that I had gone 25 minutes over-time - I was mixed up as to when we were supposed to finish. Oops!)
You have reminded and encouraged me to get on and read my RS book too. I haven't read it yet either.
I love your goal to get onto all of your church reading. Chances are very good that you are going to love it when you do get into it.
I have just had a change of assignment - I am now also teaching Gospel Doctrine. It's going to be a good year with the Book of Mormon!
Sleep well! :)
xoxo
I've got big goals to read all my church books this year too... Lol! Good luck to both of us!! :)
ReplyDeletexo
Love you post Beccy :)
ReplyDeleteI got that Daughters in My Kingdom book too and to make a confession - it didn't actually even really occur to me to read it. :S I just thought it was a pretty manual type thing and because I'm not in RS I figured I wouldn't really get around to reading it.
How terrible am I!? :S :S
BUT you have encouraged me and now I'm actually excited to read it! Can't wait to get uplifted :)
Happy New Year!!!
xoxoxooxo
Just back for a second reading :) I love that it was a fabulous day for you :)
ReplyDelete(Thank you to you and your Mum for the lunch date. It is always good to see you :) We really should do it more!? Just let us know whenever you are going to be down, if you have some time to spare, and I will let you know if we are going to be up your way! :)
xoxo